TOKYO (TR) – A member of a gang group was arrested last week after inflicting damage at the offices of a Tokyo talent agency in while in search of money lent to the father of actor Taiyo Sugiura, reports Nikkan Gendai (August 27).
On August 25, a 57-year-old gangster from the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest criminal organization, burst into the Akasaka offices of Sky Corporation, where Sugiura, 30, is registered, and broke a glass door with a chair. “I’m here for the money lent to Sugiura’s father, and I want to know where it is,” the suspect is quoted as saying.
Formerly a player for the Nankai Hawks but never on the regular roster, Sanroku Sugiura, the actor’s father, entered the real estate business after leaving the team. In 1993, he was arrested for fraud and received a three-year sentence suspended for five years. Afterward, he divorced his wife and moved in with a hostess club mama-san working in Osaka’s Minami entertainment district.
“When Senichi Hoshino was skipper of the Hanshin Tigers (2002-03), he was in charge of selling the team’s goods in Kobe, and it was hugely prosperous,” says a person affiliated with the entertainment industry. “But he was always late in paying back money. He wound up having a lot of money on loan to a gang group.”
To the son, his father’s presence was a real headache. “Previously, the gang intruded into the office, demanding to know where his father was,” the same source explains.
A message on the Sky Corporation Web site apologized for the incident.